Penny Simpson's Page

What every writer dreams of, a beautiful space to write uninterrupted, and a small community of like-minded people to share ideas, inspirations, thoughts and dreams. This is what was on offer at Hawthornden Castle in Scotland, where I've just spent the past month as a Fellow. At times, I felt like I was walking around on a film set, or had woken up in inside a novel by Sir Walter Scott. Hawthornden is built on a craggy rockface above the River Esk, its foundations a web of caves once the home of… Continue

Walking into a white, light studio filled with paintings that layer real landscape with imagined places, or remembered places is quite an experience. Maggie's studio is part of the Bay Art complex in what was Cardiff's old docklands. The building is a warren of studios, reached by original staircases with worn stone steps and decorative railings. I rented its studio flat for a month to complete my novel The Banquet of Esther Rosenbaum. Now, I'm seeing it from the artist's point of view.

Outside… Continue